[ISEA2000] Poster: KULJIT ‘KOOJ’ CHUHAN – Resonances

Poster Statement

Re-locating migrants: resonance, borderlines and virtual migrants, a political visualisation of history and globalisation through digital art.

Along with the dominance of post-modernism in western art, Digital Arts have often been singled out for being ‘content free’, the victory of style over content While this comes under increasing criticism, non-linear forms of narrative also have roots in older traditions, such as cinematic montage as developed by Eisenstein to expose underlying political ideas and relationships. Digital art can restore to the montage the ability to communicate complex ideas and ultimately assert a popular consciousness around the theme of globalisation. Further problems arise due to the largely western frame of reference for post-modernism and for the vast majority of new media art.

‘Borderlines’ and ‘Resonance’ focus on migrant issues and imperialist globalisation to create works concerned with Black and Third World aesthetics and the issues around a European-dominated audience for such work, as in Britain. One role for the digital artist must be to connect with content and global realities; this is not just a social argument, it is an aesthetic one.